ALSO OF NOTE FROM WEST GERMANY

March 31, 1981

* There's a new twist in the Saudi Arabian bid to buy several hundred West German tanks. Some trial balloons have suggested a West German honest-broker role between Israeli prime minister-candidate Shimon Peres and the Saudis in the interests of strengthening Mideast stability. And various Israelis or friends of Israel are suggesting that Israel's opposition to German tanks in Saudi Arabia might be lessened by West German export of offsetting weapons to Israel.

* A coordinated West German police raid on more than 400 apartments of suspected neo-Nazis at the end of March netted a few illegal weapons and masses of illegal publications. The publications were imported wholesale from Nazis in the US and Canada for distribution here.

* This year even the Swiss cows are getting up earlier. Previously, Switzerland refused to join Europe's drift toward daylight-saving time, insisting its livestock would object. The land of Alps and fresh air was the lone holdout against the time change after the other regional odd men out --agreed to start their days earlier last year. At 2 a.m. March 28, 1981, however, Switzerland finally joined its neighbors. All of the European Community, Scandinavia, the neutrals, Iberia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and Hungary are now officially on daylight-saving time.

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